Following a highly destructive Trial of Possession fought by the Goliath Scorpions against Clan Snow Raven forces in the Lum system that saw several WarShips and much of the orbital yards destroyed, the Snow Ravens responded by launching a Trial of Possession of their own in the Roche system. Originally viewed by the other Clans as an act of retribution, the end result of the Trial revealed that the Ravens' real goal was that of replenishment. The Brim Naval Assault Star arrived at Roche in March 3069 under the command of Star AdmiralAnta McKenna, who immediately declared a Trial of Possession for all of the Goliath Scorpion WarShips currently on station and their crews. Khan Suvorov of the Goliath Scorpions agreed to the Trial, and the initial batchalls were bargained down until the bidding resulted in a single WarShip plus AeroSpace Fighters from each side fighting the Trial. The Snow Ravens fought using the Aegis-class heavy cruiser CSR Black Justice, squaring off against the Sagitta and her accompanying fighters under the overall command of Star AdmiralRebecca Suvorov.[2]

The Trial was fought near the small asteroid ring in the Roche system and lasted for ten hours, with the Black Justice and a single Star of Raven fighters emerging as the victors... and with the Sagitta left drifting and powerless. As a result of the Trial the Ravens were left in possession of the Sagitta along with the Congress-class frigate CGS Garlon and Potemkin-class cruisers CGS Enceladus and CGS Prometheus. Admiral McKenna gathered the Raven forces together along with their new isorla and moved her forces back to Brim, where the CSR Sagitta was quickly repaired.[2]

The four captured vessels and their crews were all kept together and deployed as a new Snow Raven Naval Star, the Hellgate Battle Star, and tasked with defending the various escort vessels following what was known as the Raven Road, a section of the stellar route from the Snow Raven holdings in the Clan Homeworlds to the distant Outworlds Alliance.[2]

When Clan Steel Viper made an opportunistic move against the last Snow Raven convoy to try and leave the Homeworlds, the massive Leviathan Prime-class battleship CSV Perigard Zalman - the Steel Viper flagship - was one of the Steel Viper WarShips directly involved. The Snow Raven convoy consisted of the Hellgate Battle Star and no less than one hundred and nine JumpShips all travelling slowly away from Hellgate. Anticipating that the Snow Ravens would move via the Snow Raven guidepost at Ghent, the Steel Vipers arranged to work with Clan Star Adder to seize or destroy the convoy.[3]

On the 29th of July 3072 the Steel Viper force, consisting of the the Perigard Zalman escorted by the Essex-class destroyer CSV Martial Legacy and the Potemkin-class CSV Serpentes jumped into the system, arriving in the middle of the vast Snow Raven convoy, and announced their Trial of Possession for the entire fleet, declaring all of the forces at the disposal of Star CommodoreTerrence Moffat as their bid.[3]

Star Admiral Anta McKenna accepted the Viper bid as-was and declared all of her forces in defence. What Admiral McKenna hadn't realised was that the Star Adders had assigned a naval Star of their own to the command of Commodore Moffat, a naval Star consisting of the Black Lion-class battlecruiser CSA Admiral William S. Preston, the Fredasa-class corvette CSA Arcadian Asp, the York-class destroyer CSA Exodus Crusader and the Lola III-class CSA Hagar and CSA Warlock. Moffat neglected to inform McKenna of the additional forces, communicating their presence less than a minute before the Steel Viper vessels began firing on the Ravens.[3]

Moffat didn't limit his targets to the four Raven WarShips defending the convoy and their attached escorts; instead, he had the Perigard Zalman open fire on whatever targets were in range, with the first Raven ships destroyed being fifteen JumpShips before the Ravens could close. The Martial Legacy proceeded to work in tandem with the Serpentes against the Ravens, first targeting and destroying the Sagitta, which had still been carrying the damage inflicted on it from the Trial of Possession in which the Ravens had acquired the Hellgate Battle Star from the Goliath Scorpions. In response, the CSR Enceladus managed to inflict some damage on the Serpentes before the Perigard Zalman blocked both the Serpentes and the Martial Legacy from fire from the heavier Raven ships.[3]

Despite the best efforts of the Ravens, the battle was effectively a foregone conclusion once the Star Adder forces jumped in. The Ravens still managed to cripple the Serpentes when the CSR Garlon intercepted the Serpentes as it attempted to close on a group of JumpShips. The CSR Prometheus was destroyed quickly by the Star Adders, although her sister vessel the Enceladus worked with several Raven DropShips to gut the Admiral William S. Preston before being destroyed in turn by the Asp, and the Perigard Zalman accounted for the Garlon. None of the Raven AeroSpace or combat DropShip forces answered Moffat's single call to surrender, instead fighting until they had all been destroyed.[3]

Moffat's actions secured the Steel Vipers and the Star Adders a total of fifty Raven JumpShips and almost eighty full DropShips of cargo as isorla; at least sixteen Raven JumpShips managed to escape, although only thirteen were eventually reclaimed by the Ravens. The Serpentes was scuttled, although the Vipers claimed the Garlon as salvage; the Star Adders tagged the various other Raven hulks and marked their courses with a view to later stripping the hulks for materiel. The Star Adders and Steel Vipers then spaced any Raven civilians considered unnecessary before moving their booty back to their holdings.[3]